


Stray Fox

by NixC



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Fox Jeongin, Hybrids, Kim Woojin is Whipped, Light Angst, Seo Changbin is Whipped, Yang Jeongin | I.N-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-09-01 12:19:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16765012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NixC/pseuds/NixC
Summary: Yang Jeongin is a little fox hybrid who ran away from his previous owner. Now he’s hungry, cold and caught in a thunderstorm on the dark streets of Seoul. He knows following a large group of screaming, yelling boys into an unfamiliar building may not be the best idea but really, he couldn’t see any other options.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Nobody from Stray Kids can truly resist the power of fox pup Jeongin. Hope you enjoy ^-^

Jeongin yelped and scampered under a nearby bench as razor-sharp lightning lit up the almost pitch black street and a deafening thunderclap shook the ground not even a second later.

Then again, it may have been just him that shook. It would certainly explain why the world was still vibrating long after the street grew dark and silent once more. He just didn’t know if it was because of the cold or out of fear. Mix in the adrenaline coursing through him and it was amazing his heart hadn’t flown out of his chest with how quickly it was beating

Still, despite every instinct in his little body screaming at him to move, to run and find a dry, preferably warm place to sit this out, he was paralyzed – curled up in as tight and small a ball as possible, his large ears pulled flat against his head, eyes opened wide but seeing nothing. His breathing was erratic and yet he couldn’t seem to cut off the whine that ripped itself from somewhere deep in his chest. It almost sounded like whistling. He wanted to cry – he wasn’t sure if he wasn’t already.

He flinched and curled up even further when loud yells assaulted his ears. They were growing louder with each passing second – the humans were getting closer. He tried to stop whining but only succeeded in quieting down, though it almost all flew right out the window when someone’s foot, clad in a bright red shoe, stomped down in the puddle right next to the bench Jeongin was hiding under. Dirty, brown water splashed out – to Jeongin’s it looked like a fountain – and onto the fox, almost like a slap across his body. He yelped but didn’t move, the storm covering up the noise. Not only was he wet but he was also now almost fully covered in mud.

The person with the red shoe squealed and laughed and then spoke to his friends in a booming deep voice. Jeongin couldn’t actually make anything out and the voice itself did nothing to calm him. He could see one more boy, soaked to the bone, likely just as much as Jeongin was. He was laughing as well and, much to the little fox’ horror, started running straight toward the red-shoed boy, who in turn screamed and shouted some more. Jeongin closed his eyes and hid his face between his paws when he could only see the other boy’s legs. The splash he was waiting for never came, however. When he peeked over one paw, he saw only red. The boy with the deep voice had taken the brunt of the attack.

A third boy, Jeongin couldn’t help but notice he had silver hair, came into view, saying something at the splashy couple, a group of four other boys followed behind him. Jeongin was preparing himself for a tsunami when the two in front of the bench moved away and to the group. And what a loud group it was, everyone constantly shouting at the others in order to be heard over the rain. The silver haired boy seemed to be their center as they all quieted down when he spoke.

Now that they were no longer trying to drown him, Jeongin managed to calm himself and became curious about the group. He perked up when they started moving toward a tall, lit up building, his entire body rose without him truly realizing it. He lowered his head, ears standing tall and proud, and debated whether he was really doing this.

When the door opened for the group, there was no more time left for debating, Jeongin scampered, skidding and slipping on the wet pavement, and almost came crashing down face-first into the ground when he tried to jump over the curb of the sidewalk. Regardless, he made it. The door almost closed on the end of his tail but he made it.

He had ended up in what seemed to be an apartment building. The entrance had creamy walls, decorated with paintings and a nice diamond-pattern carpet that on any other occasion would have made him feel nice and welcomed. Alas, with the lights flickering and thunder still rumbling, Jeongin felt anything but.

He watched as the boys approached an elevator. He counted his lucky stars when a cacophony of groans sounded through the hallway and the boys turned to the stairs, murmuring about things breaking on the worst days. He was very happy he didn’t have to stay in an enclosed space with a group of 7 boys. Instead he happily, though very lightly and quietly, hopped along after them up the stairs. He nearly bumped into someone’s leg once they stopped in the hallway near their door. He quickly backpedaled, barely containing a yip, and hid himself in the shadows of the hallway. He waited as they unlocked their door and started trickling in, only following once the three last boys were about to enter. He stuck himself as close as he could to the boy at the very rear without actually touching him, not once thinking of the possibility the he or any one of the others could turn around or otherwise make some other move out of place and spot him… or kick him. Yes, kicking would probably be worse. He also didn’t think of the door slamming shut behind them almost immediately after they’d entered and so he let out a startled series of screams.

All 7 boys turned from what they’d been doing to stare at him with wide eyes, looking just as startled, some even afraid, as he felt. He did the first thing that came to mind – he screeched and shot off in the only direction that wasn’t occupied by a human.

And then it was chaos.


	2. Chapter 2

Woojin had been having a nice relaxing time in his own room – for once. He shared his room with Chan and Minho - they were the ‘adult’ room, never mind the fact they chanted ‘Ole ole ole’ whenever they got overly excited over something. Typically it wasn’t too much of a hassle with them– all three of them cleaned after themselves, they weren’t overly loud on their own. Chan was a little bit intimidating sometimes as he was the leader of the group as well as having several years of experience on all the rest of them. Still, they were essentially brothers and they were surely and actually-not-so-slowly getting past that little barrier.

That said, the moment the rest of the boys came into the mix, things got loud to say the least, a little bit hectic, headache-inducing for those who weren’t used to it. But man, did they shout a lot, Woojin himself included. It wasn’t just shouting. They also whooped and screamed and in some cases barked and crowed – it was all fair game really. It was normal in all honesty, considering 5 out of the 8 of them were 18 and 19 years old – the 20 and 21s club didn’t stand a chance.

Regardless of how much fun they might have, it was still taxing. Dealing with it for weeks on end, the only breaks being when they were practising or breaking down because of practising, Woojin sometimes found himself looking forward to being alone in the dorm.

Today had been one of those days. The boys had decided to go out and have some fun in a nearby arcade along with their favourite junk food – not that they would ever admit that to anyone in their company, they were all supposed to be on a healthy diet after all. They had invited Woojin of course, and he would have accepted. However he had been feeling sick the past few days and the weather forecast hadn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows – and so, he had stayed behind in the blessedly quiet dorm.

He’d napped, finished the book he’d been reading and he was now watching ‘Bad Guys’ – he loved that drama. The episode had him on the edge of his seat, they were possibly going to show what had really happened to Jungmoon, one of the main characters. Woojin only hoped his boys wouldn’t be too rowdy when they came in as they usually did right in the most crucial moment.

He heard the click and creak of the front door being unlocked and opened, and the boys shushing each other as they entered.

“Quiet so we don’t disturb hyung,” he heard Minho hiss as someone, likely Felix, hyperactive as he was, dragged their feet across the floor, making them squeak in some unknown rhythm.

As if on que, the door slammed closed with a sound loud enough to startle Woojin even though he was waiting for something like that. But then something unexpected happened, an inhuman screech echoed through the dorm.

Woojin shot up from his chair and turned to the door in a single motion. He stilled as there was nothing but silence and waited with bated breath and a racing heart for something else to happen – why weren’t the boys reacting? Were they ok? Was one of them hurt? Did one of them make that sound or was it something else? All that and more flew across his mind within the second that passed before it seemed like a war broke out in their dorm.

The screeching came back, the boys were shouting, Woojin could hear thuds coming from all over the place, he could only assume furniture was falling.

“What in the hell,” he muttered under his breath as he walked to his door, unsure of whether he really wanted to go out there or not. But what if the boys were in trouble? He couldn’t leave them to deal with it alone. Letting out a long sigh to build up some courage, he placed his hand on the door handle.

He was surprised to find himself on the floor upon his first attempt to open the door. Just as he’d had it halfway open, the full volume of the noise in the dorm almost deafening him, something small and sand-coloured zipped by him and one of the boys, most likely chasing the little thing, slammed into the door. He wondered if he could attribute this headache to the boys as well or if the door was at fault this time. At least he now knew it wasn’t some burglar trying to kill them. But what kind of animal screamed like that?

More confident than before, he stood quickly and barged out his room.

“What the heck is going on?”

He barely managed to get it out, when he felt something brush against his ankles and rush into his room and a freight train slam into him. Woojin was once again on the floor, his headache now twice as bad as before, with the freight train in front of him, rubbing its own temple. Said train turned out to be Changbin. Woojin couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible for someone that was both smaller and slimmer than him to feel like a boulder. He only hoped he never let that slip, ‘Binnie’ would probably kill him. The screeches seemed to be quieting down though. They were still there but the intervals between them were becoming longer and the volume was reducing, thank god.

“Oh my god, hyungs are you ok?”

Felix was the first to get to them – not that it mattered, considering the rest of them were right behind him, but he was the first to speak… in English. He was pulling Changbin to his feet, while Chan came to help Woojin up.

Rubbing at his poor abused head – his forehead would probably be blue the next day – he gave them all a stern look. To say he was glaring might be accurate but it would also insinuate he was mad at them. He wasn’t. Really. Not yet.

“I repeat, what the heck is going on?”

Ok, good. He was still actively making an effort not to swear in front of (or at) them. He was not mad at all.

The boys, not sure how to answer, all turned to Chan. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, looking apologetically at Woojin.

“I’m not entirely sure to be honest. We walked in, the dorm slammed and then this thing screeched.”

“So actually I know exactly what’s going on,” Woojin deadpanned – ok, so maybe he was a little mad. His tone didn’t seem to sit well with Chan as he crossed his arms and furrowed his brows – he was getting defensive.

“I said I wasn’t sure, didn’t I.”

“Come on guys, don’t fight,” Seungmin pleaded with them. “It will only make things worse.”

Chan and Woojin both softened under the puppy eyes of their youngest member. They took turns to pat him on the head.

“Speaking of fights,” Jisung cut in. “Where did our screechy problem go?”

They all turned in place trying to find the speedy menace. Woojin, being more on the side, watched as they naturally stood back to back, arms up and knees bent ever so slightly. They looked like they were ready for an ambush by a jaguar or some other silent, deadly animal – odd considering their little problem could possibly be used as the single fire alarm for an entire six floor office building.

Remembering the brush against his ankle, he turned to his room. Why did it suddenly look so ominous? Sure there was something alive and possibly dangerous in there and he didn’t know what it was but he was certain it didn’t even come up halfway to his knee. Yeah, it was definitely small. Maybe it was a puppy. Or a bunny! He liked bunnies. He said as much out loud.

The boys looked at him as if he’d gone insane. Felix being ever the tactful one leaned slightly forward, almost conspiratorially, all the while blinking rapidly.

“... Hyung,” he paused, “are you sure you’re ok?”

Woojin blinked. Right, it would be a hell of a bunny if it made sounds like this. He didn’t realize he’d only said he liked bunnies and not that it might be a bunny. Ah well, either way they’d laugh at this later.

He inhaled deeply, “I’m going in.”

All the rest gasped. He may or may not have imagined that bit but when he turned to them – one last time before he jumped in the lion’s den – they were definitely looking at him with something stuck between awe, worry and a little bit of panic in their eyes. He wasn’t 100% certain when he’d become such an expert in reading emotions from someone’s eyes but the point still stood.

Minho, realizing they had to actually possibly maybe do something about the situation within the next few hours stepped forward, grabbed Woojin by the shoulders and nodded as if he were about to send him off to a battlefield. He then promptly spun him round and gave him a very decisive push toward the room, closing the door behind Woojin as he stumbled in.

Woojin himself could barely stop himself from swearing – he managed only with the thought he might get eaten otherwise. Right, eaten by the thing that was hardly larger than his ankle.

‘Get yourself together, man,’ he scoffed at himself, shaking his head.

He stepped forward cautiously and as quietly as possible. The room was still dark from when he’d been watching his drama and now, coming in from the very brightly lit living room, it was like he was stranded in a dark abyss where he could collide with something with every little movement. That said, something could also collide into him as well. He wasn’t sure if he shivered from the thought of it or from the draft coming in from the slightly opened window. The situation was not at all helped by the flashes of lightning that made otherwise harmless objects project monstrous shadows or by the rumbling thunder – all of which made him feel like he was in a horror movie.

A sudden skittering and a blur in his peripheral startled him enough to jump to the side and hit his desk. There was that colliding he’d been worried about. On another note:

“Now you decide to be quiet? What, did you come here just to torment me?”

There was something aching to a whistling noise coming from somewhere in his room/abyss. What the heck was this thing? He’d have though it was a bird but those don’t really run across rooms with quite this much proficiency. A cat could maybe screech but then they didn’t whistle. A dog neither whistled nor screeched. Squirrels were smaller and so were rats.

While mulling over all the different options Woojin kept moving around his room carefully – firstly as to not add to the bruising he got from his desk and second to try and not scare the animal into running around. Or jumping. Oh god, how high could this thing jump? Could it reach his eyes? What about his throat.

He gulped as he closed in on his bed. Then he felt something odd beneath his foot and almost fell on his bottom when a screech even louder than any of the ones before came from right in front of him. He hissed and pulled his leg back sharply when he felt small but very sharp teeth scrape against his shin through his sweatpants – his very thick sweatpants.

There was that whistling again, accompanied by some whimpers and almost barks. It dawned on Woojin that the animal was possibly just as afraid, if not more, as they were. In a similar bout of brilliance he remembered he could switch his lights on.

Looking around with the light on certainly made things feel like less of a nightmare.

A small out-of-place shape bellow his bed caught his attention. His knee-jerk reaction was to lie down on the floor and shove his face under the bed. It was only halfway there that he realized it was not the brightest idea as he was dealing with a frightened, maybe aggressive animal. He jerked back at that thought, sitting up on his knees instead. He watched the little form intently, looking for any clues on how to proceed from here. He could make out a pair of giant ears and a tail as large as the body it was attached to. Woojin thought he finally figured out what this animal was.

“How did a desert fox get to Seoul,” he asked the little thing. Now, he wasn’t actually expecting an answer and it honestly surprised him when the ball under his bed unfurled ever so slightly – just enough to peek up at him. He couldn’t help himself – baby voice and all.

“Aww, but you’re so cute!”

The fox flinched when he moved closer and looked up at him with big wet black eyes. It was quivering as well – there was mud covering its paws and belly and splattered across its face, sides and back. The fox must have been completely soaked before this whole adventure commenced. Even having spent only up to 20, very active, minutes in their warm dorm, its fur was almost completely dried and sticking up in odd angles – mini cow licks. Muddy cow licks. He might freak out about the mess later.

“You must be terrified,” Woojin continued – still in a baby voice but softer with the hopes to calm the little one. He shuffled forward on his knees, braced one hand against the top of the bed and extended the other for the fox to sniff. Perhaps he’d moved too quickly or he was being too forward as the fox recoiled once it saw what he was doing and threw itself backward. Woojin froze in place when the small body hit the wall the bed was braced against. He sighed in relief when it stood as if nothing had happened, only foundering slightly and shaking its head. It was absolutely adorable and Woojin found himself cooing at it.

The sound seemed to calm it down – it stopped moving and stared at Woojin. Taking advantage of this small victory, he kept it up even going as far as to add some melody to it. The fox tilted its head and oh so carefully put one paw in front of the other.

Woojin started a light tapping on the floor with his fingers to attract the fox even further. He was over the moon when it worked, he’d expected more of a fight. Well, he’d actually expected to get scratched up and bit and that he’d have to force the critter out with a broom or in a blanket or something. Thankfully things were going better than expected.

The fox carefully made its way toward him, occasionally stopping to sniff at the floor with its ears pointed forward. Woojin wondered how strong its hearing was. Could it hear the others in the dorm?

He cheered internally, just barely keeping himself from throwing his arms in the air, when the little one cautiously sniffed at his knuckles before lapping at them with a small pink tongue. He would forever deny the squeal that escaped him as he, without thinking even for a second, ran his hand between the fox’ ears and proceeded to gently scratch the top of its head. Fortunately it only leaned into the touch before it laid on its side and curled its paws toward its body. Woojin stroked along the side of its body – even though what dry fur could be seen looked short, it was incredibly soft. The fox chirped a few times before it closed its eyes and went still. He himself also stopped his petting, unsure if he’d somehow knocked the poor thing out. It cracked its eyes open and nudged at his palm to make him continue.

Woojin would have sworn he’d gone to heaven if it didn’t nibble at the side of his thumb as well. He didn’t expect it at all. Naturally he yelped, startling the animal. It shrunk back a little and looked up at him with those large eyes again. It made his heart hurt.

“No, it’s ok pup. You just surprised me. And even if it hurt, you didn’t hurt me on purpose, did you? You’re a good pup, aren’t you?”

He kept petting and murmuring lovingly to the little fox and completely lost track of time. He couldn’t even guess how long it’d been since he’d come in when there was very hesitant knocking on the door.

“Hyung~,” Hyunjin’s voice carried through the door. “It’s been silent in there for a while…”

He trailed off uncertainly. In the meantime, Woojin used the opportunity to take in his surroundings again. It had stopped raining – he had even forgotten about the storm outside.

“We thought we had to check if you were still ok. So are you?”

Woojin had also forgotten the boys all thought he was in here dealing with some ferocious beast. An idea lit a mischievous glint in his gaze as he turned to the door. Looking down at the pup he smiled and rubbed at its cheeks.

“Let’s introduce you to the boys.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chan was sitting on the wide brown couch in their living room (which they had had to turn right side up because someone had knocked it over during the chase) just looking at the rest of his members – watching like a hawk waiting for its prey, or a kangaroo sneaking up to kick you from behind, depends on who you asked. Everyone else was busying themselves with whatever they could find as to not worry about what was happening in Woojin’s room and simultaneously avoid their leader’s intimidating stare.

However, Chan, for all intents and purposes looking like he was paying utmost attention to what the others were doing, was in fact subtly twiddling his thumbs and silently going over everything that had just happened. He was anxiously racking his brain – what could that thing have been? It’s been more than an hour. Was Woojin ok? It was awfully quiet in there. How did that creature get in? What was he going to do? Was Woojin ok? Wait, didn’t he just think that? He had to do something.

“Hyunjin!”

He may have said that louder than intended in his excitement, considering how high Hyunjin jumped, almost dropping his phone in the process.

“Yes, hyung?”

If Chan hadn’t gone into some sort of overdrive he would’ve noticed how timid the other boy looked and sounded. But he had, so he didn’t and continued in the same barking tone.

“Go check on Woojin.”

And so they argued.

“What? Why me? You go!”

“I’m not going!”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

“Well, same here!”

The others kept looking back and forth between them, according to who was talking – it was like they were following a tennis match.

“Well, you’re still going to check.”

“How so?”

“Because I said so and you will listen to me.”

Hyunjin looked at him with an expression lost between confused and incredulous. The rest of the boys also seemed to be similarly puzzled. Chan smiled (evilly).

“Because I am older than you and I am your leader.”

Hyunjin deflated while the boys oohed in the background.

“Fine,” he huffed and marched out the living room and into the hallway to Woojin’s door.

‘This is Chan and Minho’s room too. Why couldn’t one of them come huh,’ he internally seethed to himself.

He took a steeling breath and firmly knocked on the door – at least he thought it was firm.

“Hyung~. It’s been silent in there for a while…”

He trailed off waiting for some sort of response and grew concerned when none came. Still too afraid to go in and face the beast he decided to keep talking. Maybe Woojin didn’t hear him because he was calming it down? Or maybe he was unconscious… Just one more try?

“We thought we had to check if you were still ok. So are you?”

There was silence before he heard Woojin’s muffled voice from inside. He came closer to the door, turning his head to one side in order to press his ear against it.

“Hyung, I didn’t catch that? Nothing is dying in there right? You’re still alive, yeah?”

The sudden thumping that came from inside made him want to back away and stare at the door in definitely-not-fear. He was not fast enough. Not a beat later it flew open and from the darkness a monster with razor sharp teeth and glinting black eyes charged at his head.

What happened next was only natural.

Meanwhile Chan was rigidly sitting on the couch, his ears practically twitching with the effort he was exerting to try and hear if Woojin was at all answering Hyunjin.

He was vaguely distracted by Felix next to him doing weird stuff to Changbin’s hair – he was supposedly trying to style it – and enthusiastically teaching Seungmin this ‘dying art’. Changbin, with his planet-sized soft spot for the freckled younger, calmly sat on the floor between Felix’ feet and handed him rainbow coloured butterfly hair clips and tiny neon hairbands on demand. All the while their maknae was completely enraptured by the process, hungrily absorbing the new knowledge like a sponge and nodding every minute or so to show that he understood.

The only members Chan had lost track of were Jisung and Minho. A quick glance around told him they were sat at the kitchen table talking to each other. Chan sighed and went back to watching Felix annihilate Changbin’s hair. Wait, wasn’t he listening for something?

The thought barely made its way through his head when a scream and a familiar screech sent him and Changbin flying to their feet. Felix shouted in both surprise at the noise and protest as a hairclip flew off Changbin’s head and smacked him in the forhead. He fell sideways on the couch as Seungmin threw himself and clung to his arm. Quickly as possible he lifted his head enough to be able to see past the back of the couch. It was a struggle with the clinging maknae.

In contrast to this flurry, Minho and Jisung had frozen in their seats. The only thing to move were their heads which snapped to where Hyunjin was supposed to come from.

Chan had only taken two steps forward when Hyunjin came falling from the corner of the hallway. They all winced when he hit the hardwood floor face-first. Not bothering to get back to his feet, Hyunjin turned to face the direction he’d come from and crawled backwards with all the grace and coordination of a panicked fawn.

Changbin was the first to regain his composure.

“What happened?”

“M-mo-mon-mon,”

Chan pulled him up and gripped him by the shoulders, trying to look him in the eye.

“Hyunjin,” he said sternly. “Hyunjin, calm down. Breathe with me.”

He slowed his own breathing, inhaling and exhaling loudly with brief pauses in-between, willing the other to get himself under control. Hyunjin followed well enough, copying him, calming.

“That’s it. Atta boy.”

Chan loosened his grip and began to rub up and down Hyunjin’s upper arms. It was going swimmingly until -

“Hyung, what happened?”

\- their maknae made his curiosity known. The panic promptly flooded back into Hyunjin’s eyes, though he seemed to retain the ability to speak this time around. He grabbed either side of Chan’s face and pulled him close. It could have been considered a slap if his hands hadn’t stayed on the assaulted area.

“Monster~” he drawled with a guttural voice. Chan was officially scared for his life.

Minho was the next to speak – rather forcefully at that.

“What do you mean, monster?”

They didn’t get an answer as Hyunjin didn’t get the chance to get it out. Everyone became immobilized when loud thuds came from the hallway. They stared wide eyed with anticipation and fear.

The thudding stopped just behind the corner. All was silent.

And then Woojin’s head popped up from the corner. He took in their expressions, along with Changbin’s still very colourful head, and burst out laughing.

The others were left to stare at him in bewilderment. Or maybe they were staring at the very much furry ears at the top of his head.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Significantly longer than previous chapters. Yay!

It took a few minutes for Woojin to stop laughing. That’s what they got for assaulting him with his own door – twice! Still, he tried to keep his shaking to a minimum, due to the small warm weight at the base of his neck and the muzzle he could feel (and hear) sniffing at his hair. He was so busy having fun and feeling fond he didn’t notice just how shocked the boys looked.

Changbin took a couple of stuttering steps forward with a lowered head and wide eyes and pointed at Woojin’s face.

“What’s with your head?”

Ok, so not his face. Also kind of insulting and without honorifics! That wasn’t like Changbin at all. Besides, Woojin snorted – Changbin should be the last to talk about weird heads, ‘Mr. Neon Butterfly!’ He crossed his arms and raised his brows.

“Have you looked in a mirror?”

For a moment the other boy just looked at him, confused – he had stopped pointing as his finger was down but his arm was still in the air for some reason. It must have hit him though as he blushed a vivid red and ran his hands through his hair almost furiously. Most of the butterfly clips and a few unfortunate hair bands bounced off in a shower of colour, a single clip hung onto dear life (read: a few strands of Changbin’s hair) just out of his peripheral vision. The remaining surprisingly robust hair bands had loosened and rode up from their place at the base of his skull, each one pointing in a different direction. Felix gave out an indignant squeak – how he could squeak with that absurdly deep voice of his still baffled Woojin – at his hard, dedicated work being ruined.

Seungmin, having followed Felix to peek over the couch back, seemed to take pity on the older rapper.

“Hyung-“

“Not now Seungmin!”

“But your ha-”

Changbin turned to the side sharply – that poor last butterfly clip finally giving in as it was flung across the room.

“Seungmin!”

Their maknae meeped as he shrunk back into Felix’ side.

“Ok.”

Changbin turned back and this time a neon blue hair band took flight – it crashed in the solid wall that was Chan’s cheekbone. Woojin could practically see smoke erupting from his ears as he glared at the back of Chanbin’s head. Woojin briefly wondered how it looked from there – was it as priceless as the front? Speaking of back of the head, the little fox appeared to have fallen asleep with its nose pushed into the back of his own head. He had to keep movements to the minimum.

The leader murmured something under his breath and stepped up to stand next to Changbin. And once again Woojin’s head was being pointed at.

“He meant the ears.”

The oldest member’s hands shot to his ears, carefully tracing out their shape and trying to figure out what the heck had the others so frazzled.

“What’s wrong with my ears?”

Chan grunted in frustration.

“Not those ears. The furry ones!”

Woojin froze and looked at Chan. Had he finally lost it? Sure he was young, but leading their rowdy group can’t have been easy.

“Are you ok, Chan?”

“What? Yes, I’m-” he sighed, dragging a hand over his face but didn’t continue.

Jisung, ever the dependable one, came to the rescue.

“Hyung, you have large dog ears on your head.”

Woojin blinked at them before remembering the fox on his back. Was that it? The little thing was still breathing steadily on his back – obviously sleeping. Awe, poor little one must have been absolutely exhausted to be able to sleep through all this. Especially so quickly after scaring the life out of Hyunjin. He didn’t know how he stopped himself from cooing out loud.

He slowly and very awkwardly lifted his arms off to the side and to the top of his head so as to not jostle the creature. It felt silly and maybe a little teensy bit embarrassing to pat the top of his own head as he was. There was nothing out of the ordinary there, except for a small cow lick… fox lick? He moved his hands toward the back of it and ah – soft fur brushed the back of his hand. Carefully and oh so tenderly he caressed the ridge of one ear with his fingertips and ran them up to the tip where they stayed for a moment before pinching it gently.

The others were shell-shocked when a yelp came from behind his head and the ears jerked to one side. A small sandy head, a very cute one at that, was revealed as the thing chirped, unhappy, at Woojin and nipped at his jaw.

10 minutes later and the only major difference was that they were all sitting on and around the couch and Woojin was vehemently seeking forgiveness from his newfound furry friend by petting and making smooches at it. He and the fox were the only ones really sitting properly on the couch – everyone else too… let’s say uncomfortable at the prospect. Jisung, being the bravest soul among the rest at the moment, was sat comfortably on the couch arm – so comfortably in fact that if he scooted just half a centimetre to the edge and he would be standing.

Chan had dragged one of the chairs from the kitchen table over to sit in front of the couch – for Woojin to feel his condemning glare all the better no doubt – while Minho and Changbin stood behind him, arms crossed and chests puffed. Woojin was willing to bet they would disappear faster than lightning if he were to let the pup on the floor. He noted he couldn’t see the remaining three members – Hyunjin came as no surprise, most likely hiding away in his room, and Seungmin was probably also hiding but somewhere he could still see what was happening. Felix, on the other hand, Woojin had been certain he would be the first to approach the animal, winning it over with a sunny smile and a rumbling gentle tone.

“Hyung!”

Woojin jerked in his place on the couch as the little fox gave out a sharp squeak, twirled and then jumped in his lap. Speak of the devil and he shall appear – and nearly give you a heart attack. On the bright side, he learned where Felix had been – behind the couch and almost on top of Woojin.

The Australian boy shrunk down a little – really he crouched – at the reaction he got, only his fingers and half his face visible over the top of the couch. He hadn’t meant to startle them.

His hyung sighed and turned sideways as best he could with the fur ball in his lap.

“What is it Felix?”

He lifted his head so his mouth showed and grinned.

“Can I pet it too?”

Woojin smiled at him, relieved there was no problem, and poked at the fox’ head.

“It’s ok little guy. He’s harmless. Loud-”

“Hey!”

“- but harmless.”

Again, as if it understood every word, the fox looked up at Felix (who grinned like a maniac) like it wanted to assess him on its own. It was pawing at the back of the couch within seconds, emitting short cheery chirps – it seemed Felix was approved.

They both cooed down at it. Woojin reached to scratch at its side and back while Felix immediately began to pet it between its ears. In the meantime the three boys in front of them were stunned, looking on with slack jaws and raised brows. Changbin in particular appeared petrified when the fox got playful – jumping and spinning in the limited space between the edge and the back of the couch all the while making a variety of noises, from adorable little chirps and yelps to jolting screams. In all honesty, even Woojin had to admit it would definitely take a while to get used to that, and he was already heavily biased – fully prepared to lynch anyone and anything that tried to hurt the little one.

Unlike their dark loving member, Chan and Minho tried to keep a stern face. It wasn’t working. Minho gasped almost as often as the fox chirped and Chan flinched in his seat whenever it dashed to the edge. Of course, their leader might have just been worried it might fall off and hurt itself but then again, thought Woojin, when had things ever gone his way?

“Yah!”

Naturally it was Chan who lost it as the fur ball eventually misjudged the distance and tumbled onto the floor. Changbin and Minho immediately scurried off. The former ending up crouching on top of the kitchen table while the later jumped on one foot over to Jisung to use him as a shield.

Woojin’s heart broke watching his little friend back-up into the couch only to curl up tighter than it had when it’d been hiding from him under his bed. It looked up at Chan with flat ears, a lowered head and wet large eyes like it was apologising, scared of being hurt.

“You,” Chan pointed at the poor thing and it took all Woojin had not to tackle him when it recoiled.

“You are getting tied to the kitchen table and you will not move until we decide what to do with you in the morning!”

It whistled with regret and pushed its small muzzle forward to try and sniff at Chan’s foot in an attempt to calm him or show how sorry it was. Unfortunately the action went unnoticed and the high pitched noise only agitated Chan further. He stomped one foot, almost catching the little nose with the tip. Woojin could only hope it was unintentional. Even so, it was the last straw.

“And you will not make any loud noises until then or-”

“Or what, Bang Chan?”

Everyone froze at Woojin’s ice cold tone, even the fox looked up at him though it didn’t unfurl. Chan stared at him, startled at first. It took a lot for Woojin to voice his anger, especially at Chan who he respected as a leader even if he was older than him. He had to truly be at breaking point.

A couple of deathly silent minutes passed with the boys sharing uncertain glances and the ‘parents’ of the group staring each other down. Woojin planted his feet on either side of the fox’ small body and stood only to loom over their leader.

“You will not harm a hair on this furry little head, Chan, or I will make you regret it,” he threatened as he picked the fox up and cradled it to his chest. He glared at the silver haired boy one more time for good measure and pushed past Jisung and Minho on his way to his room.

This broke Chan out of whatever stupor he’d been stuck in.

“Where are you going?”

“My room,” Woojin scoffed without as much as a hitch in his stride.

“No you’re not.”

This however made him still – that cold aura from before rising up once more. He forced himself to let his arms relax when the fox squirmed against his chest.

“How so?”

Chan stopped in his tracks almost afraid to finish his thought as he observed Woojin’s wide, brooding back. He’d have found it amusing that he could even describe someone’s back as brooding if it weren’t for the circumstances.

“That’s my room, too,” he gulped.

“So room with someone else for tonight.”

“It’s Minho’s room as well. You’d kick us both out because of that rodent?”

He cursed his choice of words just as they came out of his mouth. Woojin whirling around with an expression he’d never seen on his face and scowling at him may or may not have had something to do with it as well. He needed to do something to calm him down. Raising his hands came as a reflex.

“Ok, so rodent’s too far.”

Well, Woojin was still glaring at him but hey, the intent to murder was gone. That counted as a win.

“But hyung, come on. You can’t truly shove us out of our own room.”

The rough scowl softened to a slight furrow of his brows.

“Alright,” Chan sighed in relief. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

And it was gone.

“What?”

He gawked at Woojin as he moved toward him, grabbing him when he tried to pass.

“I’m going to sleep on the couch.”

He repeated through a clenched jaw.

“No.”

“What do you mean no? You don’t want to go to another room, you don’t want to sleep in the same room as me and the fox. What else am I supposed to do?”

“Why does it,” Chan pointed to the fur ball in his arms. “- have to stay with you?”

“What would you have me do? Let it loose in the dorm?”

“Tie it up.”

“We are not tying it up.”

“Why not?”

“You didn’t see it flinch when I tried to touch it, Chan. It’s obviously been hurt before.”

“Tying it up is not hurting it!”

They’d worked themselves into yelling by this point, though neither was fully aware of it even with the small whimpering though still body Woojin was holding.

They talked in circles for a while, their tone never once dropping.

“Um, hyungs?”

They barely registered Felix’ timid albeit deep voice from the end of the hall and kept arguing.

“Guys.”

“YAH!”

It was Changbin’s rough shout that finally grabbed their attention. The four boys they’d left in the living room stood in front of them.

“What?”

“We had a talk,” Felix answered “and we decided what to do.”

The two eldest turned to him in confusion.

“What to do with what?”

“With sleeping arrangements,” Jisung took up.

“Woojin hyung, Felix and I can go together in Felix’ room, while Hyunjin can go to Chan hyung and Minho hyung since he’s still scared.”

Chan and Woojin considered it for a minute.

“What about Changbin?”

“He rooms with Seungmin,” came the prompt reply to Chan’s question. Still the leader did not look convinced.

“You’re all ok with that?”

“Yes,” Minho responded this time. “We just have to make sure we have little foxy here behind a closed door before Hyunjin goes anywhere.”

Said fox chirped affirmatively as best it could with Woojin squeezing it like no tomorrow. Chan sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Alright. Let’s go with that for tonight.”

The rest of the boys cheered and Woojin gathered with his over-night roommates.

Changbin and Minho, though they’d warmed up to the idea of having the animal inside, couldn’t help but shy away from the actual physical thing. Jisung, on the other hand, managed to trace the little one’s soft check with the back of his index finger. A lot of hesitation had been involved but he’d managed it. It leaned into the touch with closed eyes and just like that, it didn’t seem so scary anymore.

Changbin gripped Felix’ side when the boy went to scratch bellow the fox’ chin though the boy didn’t even notice, too busy cooing at the critter.

“It’s ok now little fella. You get to sleep in a nice, warm bed tonight. And you’ll get cuddled too,” he went on in a cutesy voice. Also very much in English but everyone could guess what he’d been on about. The fox in particular seemed satisfied. Chan stared at it somehow entranced – it really was an adorable little thing. Wait, no. That was ridiculous. He shook his head to clear it.

“Right. So let’s get moving,” he ushered the boys.

Minho clapped his hands.

“Ok. First, someone takes Foxy to the bathroom.”

“What? Why?”

“Hyunjin’s hiding in our room,” Changbin motioned to Felix and himself.

“To the bathroom we go.”

Felix placed a hand on Woojin’s wrist to stop him with fluttering eyelashes.

“Hyung can I take him? Please, please, oh please. I want to cuddle him some more.”

“Him?”

Jisung cut in before Woojin could answer.

“Why him? It could be a girl.”

The Australian blinked at him a few times before taking the fox from his hyung and holding it up by the armpits. Did animals have armpits? Pawpits? Legpits. That didn’t sound right. Armpits.

All except Chan came to take a peek. The pup seemed to grow self-conscious as it curled its hind paws and tail inward to cover as much as it could.

“It **is** a boy. I win.”

Felix stuck his tongue out, to which Jisung responded by smacking him upside the head.

“Alright already,” Woojin chuckled. “Take **him** to the bathroom.”

“Yay! Let’s go puppy.”

“It’s not a dog, Felix!”

Changbin shouted after the quickly retreating boy.

“Let’s go get Hyunjin,” Minho grabbed Woojin and Jisung and, as they walked off, commanded: “Hyung, you find Seungmin.”

The remaining two boys looked at each other.

“Was he talking to you or me?”

“We both go?”

“Ok.”

Half an hour later found two thirds of the finding-Hyunjin squad and the Bathroom team in their newly-assigned room. Thankfully Felix had had the foresight to wash the mud off their furry friend so they didn’t track any of it in – the fox had dried off somewhat by now and was almost back to its fluffy glory but Felix swore it had looked like a giant rat when wet. A very sad giant rat.

They were currently coming down from the minor freak-out they’d gone through when Hyunjin had tried to walk into the bathroom. He’d been sitting in his room for over an hour after the arcade, walking through the rain and being scared half to death by a supposed monster – certain things built up. Woojin had never though he’d scold someone for wanting to pee.

Hearing yelling and a few bangs on the door, poor Felix had slipped in his panic and fell bum first into soapy water, slowly sliding down the side of the bathtub. Oddly enough, it – he – the fox had stayed silent and only skittered into his lap and nuzzled into his neck once Felix sat up, licking at his chin and jaw (as if he wasn’t wet enough already). This was also what they’d been discussing for the past few minutes. Rather, it was what Felix had been trying to discuss while the other two just to be ignored in favour of playing with the pup – apparently kit was more accurate but pup worked too. He’d googled it after Changbin’s correction.

“Do you think he can actually understand us,” he poked at Jisung earnestly. All three of them were on their stomachs on Felix’ bed with their legs hanging off the edge. The kit in question was jumping at and chasing after their fingers.

“Lix, don’t be ridiculous. He’s a fox-”

“A fennec fox.”

“- He’s a fennec fox. He can’t understand us. Not really.”

“He probably just hears our tones and scents our emotions,” Woojin added. He didn’t expect Felix to cling to his arm and gawk at him.

“They can smell emotions,” he whispered, lest their little fox hear him. Those large ears were large for a reason though – Woojin was fairly certain he’d heard somewhere that fennec foxes could even hear bugs buried in the sand.

The fox seemed to know what they were talking about. It darted over to Felix and bumped his nose with its own.

Jisung chuckled: “Boop!”

Woojin pinched at Felix’s cheeks before rubbing and squishing the fox’ face. They were both so cute! Once he let go, however, Felix was back to his line of questioning, this time directing it at the fox. He wrapped his hands around its tiny chest and brought his face in, once again nose to nose with the little one, going cross-eyed in his attempt to maintain eye contact.

“You can smell emotions?”

Both older boys burst out giggling – actual legitimate giggles – when the fox licked the freckled nose in front it. Felix jerked back with a scrunched up face, rubbed his nose with one hand and tapped the fox on the head with the other in reprimand. It retaliated with a dignified yip before rushing back to jump on Jisung’s hands and nip at his thumb.

“I didn’t mean it literally, Lix. Different emotions make us emit different hormones and animals can pick up on those through sense of smell.”

“Oooh, right.”

They continued to play with the kit for a few more minutes before another thought struck Felix.

“Hey, hyungs. Shouldn’t we name him?”

“I agree,” Jisung hummed “It’s weird to keep calling him foxy or pup-“

“Or kit,” Felix provided.

“-or that.”

“That would be nice. But I think we should put it off for tomorrow.”

“But hyung~”

“He’s right, Felix. It’s getting late now.”

“And,” Woojin butted in again “I think the others would have something to say about it.”

Felix pouted.

“Unless it’s to suggest a name for him, I don’t want to hear it.”

“I know how you feel, Lix,” Woojin sighed. He really honestly did and he didn’t know what to do because of it. He felt so protective over this little fox and he wanted to grab hold of him and never let go. At the same time, he’d seen Chan’s adverse reaction to it as well as how scared Hyunjin still was – he should have guessed that using the pup to scare him was going to backfire – and while he wanted to keep the fox, he couldn’t let their group fall and everything they’d worked for fall apart because of an animal he hadn’t even had for more than 3 hours. But it was such a cute animal!

Seeming to sense the tense atmosphere Jisung bounced off the bed, making the fox yelp and effectively breaking the two other boys from their trance.

“Whelp, I think it’s time we go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day.”

“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it,” Woojin chuckled.

With some shuffling and a short almost-argument of who got the fox they each went to a bed – of course Woojin, having won the (almost) argument, went in Felix’ bed while Felix went to Changbin’s. It was only to keep the fox ‘cooties’ contained to one spot. They would omit minor details like “Foxy ran around the room and snuggled into all the pillows it could find before settling on Felix’” when retelling these events to the rest of their members.

After a chorus of goodnights they were all settled under the blankets. Woojin laid on his side with the fox curled into his stomach. He couldn’t help but smile fondly at the warm ball and rested a hand on top of it, watching as it flicked one ear before nuzzling into it.

“What am I going to do with you,” he whispered lowly, the only answer coming in the form of a muffled whine and steady breathing. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am genuinely horrified of misspelling one of their names. Oof.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning Woojin woke up to see that he was the only one left in the room. Typically that wouldn’t have phased him in the least, however, if he remembered things correctly, there should be a fluffy little ball under his palm. Oh god, had he turned over on top of their fragile little friend?

Frantically he pushed himself up on one elbow and somehow managed to arch his body like a bridge – a very slanted bridge. (Note to self: work on flexibility.) Finding there was no fox pancake beneath him he felt relief for all of two seconds. He flopped back to his original position before sitting up and patting and brushing through his giant duvet. Why had he even taken the big one out in the first place? It wasn’t that cold.

A sneeze shook his frame as his runny nose made itself known once more – something in those dark caverns was making it burn and his eyes tear up.

He groaned as he blew his nose into the closest tissue he could find. Right. He was the one with the cold. Or rather he had a cold. Either way it was the fifth day now and he’d actually been getting better – for the past two days it had been bad upon waking up but as he got up and moving about, it would calm down and go away. Of course there was the occasional sneeze but they were becoming fewer and fewer.

‘Many thanks to whatever stopped me from sneezing on little foxy,’ he thought. It could have been a disaster. Scared was one thing, he could stumble his way through calming a scared kit (, apparently). But sick? He didn’t even know how to deal with a sick dog, short of taking it to a vet, let alone a sick fox – which, by the way, they had to hide from anyone outside their group. Felix had once tried to convince their manager to let him keep a hamster. He’d been shot down quickly and efficiently.

Yes, he was definitely not looking forward to anyone finding out about the fox.

Having thoroughly looked through his bed as well as turned his duvet every which way possible he was certain the fox was not in his linen nest nor somehow stuck inside the blanket. Looking around the room, the other beds were neatly made – Jisung’s influence no doubt, there were no blankets or clothes on the ground that could be hiding the pup. Ooh! Maybe he was under Woojin’s bed!

And maybe Woojin should have moved slower because maybe then he wouldn’t have ended up in a heap on the floor with a painful throbbing in his wrist. He waved it a few times with a slight hiss, sincerely hoping it would go away after a while – this was one problem more than he could handle at the moment.

Despite his trouble the space beneath his bed turned out just that – space. Well ok, there was some dust and what seemed like paper scraps but the point was, there was no fox. Panic started to claw its way up his throat.

He shook his head as if it could help in some way. Throwing a glance at the clock, he saw it was 10 in the morning. It made sense for the boys to be up. Maybe Jisung and Felix had taken the pup. Trying to make the others more comfortable with him and all.

‘Yeah,’ he nodded to himself, ‘That must be it.’

He managed to change out of his pyjamas and into a simple white t-shirt and shorts before he couldn’t take it anymore and marched right out the room… in as controlled and calm a way as possible. Maybe (hopefully and preferably) there was nothing wrong and the pup was napping in Felix’ or Jisung’s lap.

Getting closer to the living room and kitchen he felt his hope diminish as the boys’ voices became louder and clearer – were they trying to whisper?

“Hyung~. What are we going to do~?”

Seungmin was obviously trying to keep his voice low. It wasn’t working as well as he probably thought.

“Well first,” Chan, ever the responsible leader, was obviously putting immense effort to sound calm “we are going to try and keep it down so Woojin-hyung doesn’t wake up.”

Woojin was getting a serious sense of déjà vu for some reason.

“Then some of us are going to start cleaning up and the rest will look for him.”

The eldest walked in before they could say anything else.

“Look for who?”

He froze behind the couch as he laid eyes on their dorm. Any panic he had managed to hold down was now curling his stomach into a ball. Safe for Hyunjin, everyone else was in the room, gathered in a semi-circle, looking like some sort of mafia in the middle of a vital meeting. Every single head shot up and the boys looked at him in pure fear. With good reason, too.

He had never yelled this loudly in his life.

“What in the hell happened here!?”

It was 8:30 in the morning and Jeongin had never felt so disoriented in his life. Ok, that was probably a lie, considering he didn’t remember a relatively large portion of his life even though he was only 17. Spending most of your time in animal form could have that effect. The longer he stayed as a fox, the stronger his instincts became, overriding human reasoning, and the less coherent his memories got until, at some point, they just weren’t there anymore. Considering how he’d been living (surviving) up until the previous night, he was actually happy about it. Even with the blank spots in his memory he’d risked everything to get away from his owner. He didn’t want to remember what had been blocked – didn’t want to think about what the man could do to him if he found him.

Slowly coming to his senses, Jeongin realized he was snuggled up against something solid, yet he was very warm and comfortable. He let out a quiet whine before nuzzling into the solidness, feeling its texture and catching a whiff of a scent – a very human scent. His head shot up, though his eyes remained closed, and he took a couple of sniffs of the air. There was more than one person in there with him – their scents mixing and blending in the air. Oddly enough, the combination didn’t bring on the usual fright. The opposite even, it comforted him, albeit with a scrunch to his nose – there might have been something of an unpleasant underlying tang to the mix. One that your typical (non-hybridie) human wouldn’t be able to catch.

No amount of tilting his head appeared to help understand the situation though.

Sighing, he opened his eyes, at first squinting at the bright light. His vision cleared revealing white walls and a digital clock in front of him. Looking around the room made him calm even as he spotted two other sleeping boys on the nearby beds. Looking down, however, almost pushed him into a panic.

Now, seeing Woojin snoring away peacefully below him wouldn’t have made him freak out. Realizing he had his leg – his currently very human, very bare leg – thrown over both of Woojin’s, made him incredibly… shocked? Shocked enough to throw himself back, completely certain he could get his feet under him in time to land on them. Alas, he did not account for his foot – his **human** freaking foot – getting tangled in the covers.

Instead of the swift, somewhat cool, display of agility Jeongin had pictured in his head, he ended up awkwardly hanging off the side of the bed.

Groaning he tried to curl himself back up to the bed – surely his animal reflexes and flexibility would help him pull through.

After a series of grunts and a steady ache in his abdomen, he had ended up slipping further down the bedside. The only reason his head hadn’t hit the floor was because he was supporting himself by one arm, awkwardly bent at the elbow to accommodate the position. Curse his long lanky limbs – it was so much easier to manoeuvre in fox form. And in human form… well apparently he couldn’t even get out of bed!

He whined pitifully as he finally let himself carefully slide onto the floor, neck bending at an odd angle as he slithered along until his back was flat on the carpeted ground. Oh so slowly, he turned to one side, keeping his legs together and his movement controlled so as to make as little noise as possible. Just as the tension in his thighs peeked, there was a rustle sheets behind him. Any control he may have had effectively disappeared and his feet, his poor bare feet, hit the hardwood floor with a painful thud.

Digging sharp fangs into his lower lip and hissing, he gripped his feet as if it would somehow ease the pain – his fluffy tail, having proportionally enlarged to fit his human size, puffed out and curled until the tip of it met the outline of his spine, his ears falling limply to either side. He sent a sharp look at the bed behind him where Felix was snoring away peacefully, not at all aware of the pain he’d just caused by turning over.

Jeongin’s ears flattened, however, once he realized what could have happened, had Felix actually woken up and seen him. He had to get out of the room.

He was already at the door before a thought struck him – it was breezier than it should have been. And it was breezier all over. A single glance down at his naked chest, among other things, had him flying to the wardrobe.

Now clad in a grey hoodie, a few sizes too large for his narrow shoulders, and black sweatpants that bunched up at his ankles with the corners dragging along the floor, Jeongin wandered into the kitchen hoping to find something to silence his howling stomach… Howling may have been overreacting but it was definitely at least grumbling under its metaphorical nose.

Jeongin started sniffing loudly and stretching his neck this way and that to try and see as much as possible without actually walking around.

Overall, it wasn’t exactly a wide space – a white fridge squished into the corner next to a line of cupboards and counters, one of which had the obligatory sink on it. A relatively large microwave – with stains on the inner side of the door, Jeongin wrinkled his nose – sat between the fridge and sink, angled so as to not take up the entire counter top. Beyond that there was an oven – clean and sparkling as opposed to its smaller cousin – and a toaster. Jeongin imagined there was likely a rice cooker somewhere as well, though it probably made things too cramped to have it out all the time.

All in all, it was surprisingly well-equipped.

Having surveyed his environment Jeongin made about a dozen small, hesitant steps toward the tall fridge, glancing to his left and right with every second ‘bound’. Cautiously, he pulled the door of it with one hand. He pulled the - he _puuulled_. He **PULLED** …

Harshly, he yanked the door of it with both hands, stumbling back when it sprung open. He then watched petrified as, seemingly in slow motion, the largest milk carton he had ever seen tilted off its stable placement at the edge of one of the fridge’s shelves and proceeded to fall to the ground. Thankfully there was no white explosion but there was a very loud thunk.

Jeongin stood frozen for a few seconds, ears twitching frantically, before crouching in front of it, trying to pick it up, eyes wide open through all of it. After several unsuccessful attempts (which meant several more not-quite-as-loud thunks) he finally managed it. The discovery that milk had leaked out to form a small puddle below the carton, and by extension soaked the side of said carton, had him whining pitifully in the back of his throat. His ears fell flat while his tail curled between his legs.

What was he going to do? He couldn’t just leave it like this, they’d know he’d done something – even if he was able to turn back to ‘foxy’ before the boys started coming out. And the mean silver one would probably yell at him again. He whined once more at the memory of the day before.

‘Ooh, I know-’ his ears perked, ‘clean up! I’ll just clean it up.’

It only took him a few minutes of scampering to find the kitchen paper, of which he tore sheet after decorated sheet and dumped it on the puddle. Seeing the first two more or less disintegrate from the liquid had him wrinkling his nose in distaste and so he continued his ministrations – not wiping or placing the sheets by hand but standing as far from it as he could and dropping it with an outstretched arm. As if literally distancing himself from his mess would somehow make his implication in it less obvious.

Just as he was pondering whether he could grab the paper, wipe the spot and throw the evidence away without getting any of the mess on himself his keen ears picked up voices from one of the boys’ rooms. Uh oh.

He let out a series of high-pitched, but quiet, whimpers as he hurriedly threw the tissues into the nearby trash can and struggled with fitting the milk carton in there as well. The sound of a turning doorknob alerted him of his lack of time and so he hugged the carton to his chest and shoved himself behind the door of one of the counters. Having sat on his own tail, he shifted uncomfortably, banging his head on the ‘ceiling’. It made him yelp but at least now his tail was free and, thanks to his animal side’s nocturnal nature, he could see just fine despite the pitch black darkness inside the cupboard.

Still, he felt miserable as evidenced by his pouting face and lowered ears.

Despite having fit into the tiny space quickly, Jeongin was far from comfortable – legs bent at the knees and curled to his chest pushed the milk carton’s edges into sensitive skin, he had to keep his head lowered and there was something heavy pressing at his hip. Stuck as he was, what did it matter what it was?

He didn’t have much more time to ponder as it seemed someone was making his way to the kitchen. There were three voices actually – if Jeongin remembered correctly, it must have been the short one with the pretty (though funny) hairdo and the sourpuss. The pout intensified. He didn’t recognize the third voice though.

“Ah, hyung did you really have to wake us to make pancakes with you,” Pretty head questioned groggily. He did not sound happy.

“Yes,” Sourpuss deadpanned, suddenly sounding incredibly close. He must have come in front of the cupboard Jeongin was hiding in.

“Why us though? Why not Hyunjin and Minho-hyung?”

“Hyunjin-ie needs rest after yesterday’s ordeal and I tried to wake Minho but he wouldn’t budge.”

“What about Woojin-hyung? He actually knows how to make these good!”

There was a rustle of clothes as Sourpuss groaned. Jeongin giggled to himself – he was very happy with the nickname he’d come up with.

“I’m doing this to make things up to Woojin-hyung.”

“Things like kicking him out of his own room and yelling at his new friend?”

The third unknown voice joined the conversation and Jeongin, preening and subconsciously smoothing out his own tail at already being seen as someone’s friend, decided he liked this one.

“I~,” Sourpuss started indignantly but seemed to deflate mid-way through the word (long as it was) “Well, yes. I guess that’s accurate.”

“And Felix and Jisung?”

“I might wake Woojin-hyung. And besides – don’t want to risk the fox running out. Hyunjin still isn’t completely over his scare from yesterday.”

Risk the fox running out? Well, Jeongin supposed the **fox** didn’t run out, if you wanted to get really technical about it.

There was short silence that left Jeongin picking at his tail instead. Why did they go quiet all of a sudden? Were they moving? He should be able to hear it if they were but what if they could move completely silently – like predators, lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce. His heart almost flew out of his chest as a new voice shattered the silence.

“Good morning!”

Jeongin’s ears perked at the energetic sound of the new person’s accented speech – it was the cuddly freckled boy. What was his name? Felix! He liked Felix, too.

“Felix, we’re barely out the room! Woojin-hyung is still sleeping!”

Oh yay, the squirrely safe one with the round face was here too. It struck Jeongin that it might not be normal to describe someone as safe but he couldn’t help it. No one had ever really made him feel like no dangers could harm him in their presence and now here he was with not just one but two such people. Squirrel Jisung, who had no problem playing with him and watching him scamper around, and teddy bear Woojin, who was very comfortable to hug and Jeongin had never slept better in his life! Felix was nice too but he seemed somehow chaotic. Jeongin had had great experiences with chaotic so far.

It did not at all cross his mind, however, that the two might have noticed the absence of a certain canine. That was for the best, seeing as they hadn’t and thinking of it would have only sent his already stressing heart into overdrive.

“Right, sorry,” Felix apologized in a loud whisper. Jeongin’s ear twitched– something didn’t seem right with that though.

“Anyway, what are you three doing here?”

“Chan-hyung is enforcing child labour,” Pretty-head exclaimed and Jeongin could picture him pointing an accusing finger at Sourpuss’ scandalized face. He snickered into his tail.

“What!?”

Both Jisung and Sourpuss, supposedly Chan, exclaimed.

“Changbin-hyung!”

The unfamiliar voice reprimanded before a short thwack reached Jeongin’s keen ears.

“Yah! You can’t hit me, I’m your hyung!”

“I~,” Sourpuss cut in, “just wanted them to make pancakes with me!”

“Ooh, I want pancakes!”

Jeongin smiled at Felix’ bright tone. The freckled boy didn’t seem to care all that much about the ‘drama’ unfolding before him.

There were a few thuds, progressively getting louder – someone was coming toward the cupboard.

“We need eggs, milk, flour and sugar. Chan-hyung get the frying pan, Seungmin you check-up on the recipe so we don’t mess up-“

It was Pretty head. Jeongin tilted his head in confusion.

‘I thought he didn’t want to make pancakes.’

“I thought you didn’t want to make pancakes,” Sourpuss echoed his thoughts with an amused, knowing drawl. The fox hybrid didn’t know whether to be happy he’d get an answer or irked because it was **Sourpuss** that asked his question.

“Shut up,” pretty head murmured so quietly under his breath that Jeongin almost missed it. Chan’s, no wait, Sourpuss’ chuckle on the other hand was clear as a bell.

“You’re so whipped.”

Whipped!? When did he get whipped? He hadn’t shown any signs of pain or discomfort. These guys were weird.

“Yay~ pancakes! Best breakfast ever, right Seungminnie.”

“Sure, hyung.”

“Do we have all the ingredients?”

“I want to help, too!”

“Why don’t you and Jisung grab the ingredients we need?”

“What do we need?”

Their voices were all over the place – it made sense, considering they were most likely moving around, beside the fact that there were like a bazillion of them (in actuality only 5 but it was too early for quality math… technically counting), but gosh darn it, it was driving Jeongin crazy. His naturally skittish tendencies were making him twitch.

“What’s going on?”

A groggy voice, though quiet and sounding as fuddled as Jeongin’s mind felt, grabbed the boys’ attention.

“Hyunjinnie!”

Jeongin’s ear twitched. Who was this? Were there really so many of them yesterday? He remembered Woojin calming him. He remembered playing around on the couch. Sourpuss yelling at him then arguing with Woojin. Then Felix gave him a bath and then Woojin, Felix and Jisung played with him in their room. Then it was lights out. He remembered pretty head and the guy who hovered around Jisung. There had been 6 of them! And one of those six wasn’t even here! Where did the other 2 come from?

Large furry ears almost disappeared in dark soft hair as Jeongin realized – he would be in so much trouble if they found him. As a fox he might have been able to get some help from Felix and Jisung at least. But as a human – dressed in their clothes, stuffed in their kitchen cupboard and hugging a gigantic milk carton, which cannot have come cheap and he’d spilled? Nevermind the ears and tail! He wanted to whine so badly. What was he going to do?

“What are you guys all doing here?”

The same groggy voice, slightly louder and less fuddled, wondered.

“Chan-hyung is encouraging child labour.”

“Oh come on!”

There was laughter and Jeongin himself snickered into his tail.

“We’re going to make pancakes.”

Even if Jeongin couldn’t hear the thumps of Felix jumping in excitement, he could practically see it.

“Wanna join?”

There were a few seconds of silence – Hyunnin… wait, no – Hyunjinnie, was hesitating.

“Yeah, sure. I’m just gonna get dressed.”

“No~, hyung we’re all in our PJs.”

“But we’ll get messy~”

“But it’s so much more fun this way~”

“Yeah, ok.”

“Wow, it was so hard to convince you.”

“Do you want me to make pancakes with you or not?”

Hyunjin deadpanned to Changbin’s comment.

“Alright.”

“Right, so-“

Two hard thuds above Jeongin made him flinch. He wished they would just stay still.

“Let’s get the ingredients out.”

“Woo! What do we need?”

“Milk, flour, eggs, su-“

“Butter!”

“Ooh, can we put chocolate?”

Oh jeese, so many footsteps, the fridge kept getting opened and shut and he could hear clinking and thunking, and they were like a beehive! Jeongin physically held his ears to his head.

“Hey guys?”

Some of the movement stopped as several of the boys must have turned to Jisung.

“Where’s the milk?”

‘I have it,’ the hybrid, ears perked and eyes alert, barely stopped himself from saying it out loud. One of his previously occupied hands jumped to cover his runaway mouth. What was wrong with him? Where did his self-preservation instinct go?

“Hmm? Woojin was supposed to buy some yesterday. I guess he forgot.”

Jeongin whistled quietly from somewhere deep in his chest. Was Woojin going to get in trouble because of him?

“Someone has to go out to get some.”

“I’ll go.”

“You really want to get dressed, huh Hyunjin-hyung?”

A beat.

“Yes.”

“Okay! Let’s find an actual recipe. We want these to taste good for Woojin-hyung. Just being edible will not be enough this time.”

“Hyung, I’m sorry to break this to you, but your pancakes have never been edible.”

Oohs and aahs echoed through the room, drowning out a playful growl.

“Find me a recipe you little brat.”

A giggle sounded, followed by a door creaking.

“It’s still just sugar we need, yeah?”

“And chocolate!”

“We have chocolate, Felix.”

“But I like chocolate.”

Felix whined.

“Buy the chocolate Hyunjin.”

“Alright already, I’ll get the chocolate.”

The boy relented at Changbins commanding tone and then he was out the door.

“Ok. We have the eggs and flour right here. We’re waiting on milk-“

“And chocolate.”

“-and chocolate. What are we missing?”

“Butter?”

“Butter’s here,” a soft clack indicated someone set the butter container down.

“Oh, we need sugar, don’t we?”

Someone snapped their fingers and started opening the overhead cabinets.

“Where did we keep the sugar?”

And at that moment, as he suddenly became all that more aware of the weight against his hip, Jeongin’s whole being froze in trepidation. Twisting in a severely unnatural position and pulling his tail out of the way, he stared at the heavy bag at his side with wide worried eyes. The word ‘Sugar’ was printed in big bold blue letters against a stark white background. Somewhere in the back of his head he wondered who kept a bag of sugar this large and how much these boys consumed of it on a daily basis. But those thoughts were trampled by the horse-race in his chest and the rushing in his ears.

What was he going to **do**?

No. Don’t panic. They might have forgotten and won’t even look here and they’ll just call Hyunjin to tell him to buy some more. Yeah, he’ll be perfectly fine.

“It’s in one of the bottom cupboards isn’t it?”

‘Jisung! Why~? Why do you do this to me,’ Jeongin curled further into himself, despite the milk carton digging into his belly. Just when he thought Jisung was safe, too. Well you’re no longer that, mister – the hybrid glared at the door.

He pushed himself as far back as he possibly could in the already cramped space as footsteps came closer to his cupboard.

“I think it’s in this one.”

Jeongin’s death grip on the packet of sugar was almost ripping through its paper cover when he heard the familiar clank of a metallic ring against the knob of the door. A sliver of blinding light broke through the darkness and a pale hand came through, grasping blindly for its target.

In a stroke of genius, the hybrid held out the packet directly in the hand’s path and smiled almost victoriously as it pulled back – The unfamiliar boy, the owner of said hand, crowed in triumph as well, happy that he didn’t have to actually look inside to find the sugar. He then promptly turned Jeongin’s hopes to dust as he showed his polite nature.

“Hey, thanks.”

Everyone froze and silence reigned for a good minute.

“Seungmin,” Sourpuss started uncertainly, “Who did you just thank?”

(On the bright side, he now knew the name of the ‘new guy’. On the not-so-good side –) more silence before Jeongin heard what he imagined were Seungmin’s knees hitting the kitchen floor before that ring clanked again.

The door opened and he was left looking directly into unfamiliar and very confused brown eyes. They stared at each other for a short moment, Seungmin obviously taking in the fact that not only was there a strange boy in their kitchen (in their kitchen counter non the less) but also that that same boy had enormous sandy-furred fox ears on his head and a tail, longer than his torso, sprouting from the base of his spine. On top of it all, fox-boy looked as shell-shocked as Seungmin himself felt.

Once the information and situation registered for both of them, however, Seungmin fell back on his behind and Jeongin’s fear finally cut through his skin to sink its teeth into his bones.

A pair of legs came into view beside the unfamiliar boy. Raising his gaze, the hybrid found Sourpuss’ shocked expression. Shock morphed to anger before he shouted.

“What the hell?”

Jeongin bolted before the sentence was fully out of Chan’s mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, chapter 5! I hope you enjoyed ^-^  
> Sorry for the long wait. The guys on asianfanfics had to wait even longer though. I feel a little guilty but internship and studies got in the way. Updates will continue to be slow unfortunately as I still have work and have been signed as a student worker for next semester. Hopefully I can get my shtick and ideally my sleeping schedule together to upload soon.


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